This invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for installing roof trusses, gables, walls, or similar subassemblies in houses or other buildings under construction that enhances the safety and efficiency of workers.
Typically, during the construction of a house or other building, the walls are first built or installed. Next, gables and roof trusses are secured to the tops of the walls to support the sheathing of the roof and to provide the building with structural integrity. Where snow loads are a possibility, roof sheathing usually takes the form of sized sheets of plywood (or other material) which are nailed to the trusses to form the roofing surface to which shingles, rain gutters, and other devices are attached. When snow loads are not a concern, lathing strips are sometimes used instead of sheathing. The weight of this roofing material and the expected snow loads requires a supporting structure, which is the primary function of the roof trusses.
In the past, workers have typically spaced and secured roof trusses during construction by temporarily nailing 1".times.3" boards (or similar support members) across adjacent trusses while standing atop or among the trusses being installed. This practice presents at least two major disadvantages. First, because the footing on the trusses is not solid, workers can easily fall from the trusses and suffer severe injury.
Second, as the sheathing is laid over and nailed to the trusses, the temporary support members must be successively removed to enable the sheathing to be nailed to the trusses flush with those sheathing sections that have already been nailed down. Much time and effort is required to remove these temporary supports. Further, the boards are usually damaged during removal to such an extent that they must be discarded.